Several cool images have landed on my desktop this morning. So I’m going to share today’s faves with some minimal commentary:

BRANDON, FLORIDA: First, our good friend Meg Pabst posted this on facebook. Meg – a child of FPC Brandon – is a student at Union Seminary in Richmond (you can use this opportunity to pray for her, her theological education, and her future serving the Presbyterian Church).

Meg captured the image outside our church in Brandon, just a couple of Sundays before Rebekah and I left Florida. Her posting was a timely reminder for us of how broad, how wide, how high, how deep, and how complete is the love that binds us to the amazing, faithful disciples at FPC Brandon. Please use this opportunity to pray for the congregation, their pastor – Tim Black, the ministry of the church in Brandon, and the exciting plans God has in store.

MOODUS, CT: Here are our grandchildren, Rebekah Mae (almost 3-months), and David (23 months) checking out either Sesame Street or “Bubble-Guppies” on tv.

Yes, they may be 592 miles away from Wake Forest, but that’s 680 miles closer than we were when we lived in Florida! Plus Skype keeps us feeling very well connected. And the connection is so very deep. I’m sure the scientists have some interesting data to account for familial closeness, but I’m fairly convinced there’s a spiritual component, too.

As human beings we really are more than merely physical and psychological; the spiritual dimension is as real and as evident as any other part of the way we are made. And the assertion that, “What you call spiritual is nothing more than the parts we haven’t explained yet, scientifically,” turns out to be woefully inadequate. The spiritual is not in competition with the science; instead it integrates with much that we already have the knowledge to understand; the spiritual is wrapped around, and in, and beyond everything else, yet unique and distinct.

My grandchildren are a part of me. It’s real and it’s biological and it’s psychological and it’s spiritual. All of the above.

THE PARENTALS: Yes, the “parental units” have made their first trek to North Carolina. Here they are outside the Christian Life Center at WFPC. They got to share our first Wednesday night supper of the fall. Wednesdays are hard to pull off any more, but there’s a lot of commitment here to make it happen, and there are enough Bible study, fellowship, children’s program, music (and more) events going on to justify catering a meal.

My mum and dad love the new Maul Hall. Maybe it has to do with the two-story brick construction (reminiscent of our home in England), or maybe because we’ve already poured so much of ourselves into the house that it feels like home, but they felt instantly comfortable here.

Our home is also very, very happy to have its first overnight guests. There’s something about extending hospitality that always tends to make us feel more rooted ourselves.

PICTURES: Well, every picture does tell a story. And this is a story that is moving beyond the preface and well into the introduction. Stay tuned for how Derek & Rebekah’s Great Adventure continues. Believe me, it’s going to be EPIC (it already is)!

– DEREK